Amazon Announces New Fulfillment Center in Arizona

After announcing plans to build another fulfillment center in Ohio on Monday (the sixth in the state), Amazon announced Wednesday plans to build a new center in Arizona. The new Tucson fulfillment center will be the fifth in that state.

The 855,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Tucson will fulfill small items such as books, electronics, household items and toys.

Press release follows:

Amazon.com, Inc. today announced plans to open its first fulfillment center in Tucson, creating more than 1,500 full-time jobs with competitive hourly wages and a comprehensive benefits package including healthcare, 401(k) and company stock awards starting on day one. Amazon currently employs more than 7,000 full-time associates at its four existing Arizona fulfillment centers and other facilities throughout the state.

“Since we first broke ground in Arizona over 10 years ago, we have found a network of support from community leaders to statewide officials, a dedicated workforce and fantastic customers,” said Mark Stewart, Vice President of Amazon’s North America Operations. “We’re excited to open a new, state-of-the-art fulfillment center in Tucson and to continue innovating in a state committed to providing great opportunities for jobs and customer experience.”

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Since 2007, Amazon has invested billions of dollars into its local fulfillment center infrastructure and through compensation to thousands of employees in the Grand Canyon State. Between 2011 and 2016, Amazon’s investments in the state contributed an additional $900 million into Arizona’s economy, and using methodology developed by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Amazon estimates its investments in the state have created an additional 18,000 indirect jobs on top of the company’s direct hires.

“Amazon’s selection of Tucson for this impressive new facility demonstrates that southern Arizona has a lot to offer businesses in terms of talent, location, pro-business environment and quality of life,” said Governor Doug Ducey. “This project will create thousands of new jobs and generate significant capital investment in the region. We thank Amazon for its continued growth and investment in our state.”

Amazon employees at the more than 855,000-square-foot fulfillment center will pick, pack and ship small items to customers such as books, electronics, household items and toys.

“We see more and more international companies recognizing the advantages Tucson has to offer as a logistics hub and gateway to Mexico. Very pleased to welcome Amazon to Tucson,” said Mayor Jonathan Rothschild.

Pima County and Sun Corridor Inc. played an active role in bringing the project to Tucson.

“Southern Arizona continues to attract industry leaders like Amazon seeking the ideal location for their next phase of growth,” said Sandra Watson, President and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority. “Amazon’s continued expansion throughout Arizona with this new operation in Tucson speaks to the company’s confidence in our state as an excellent place to do business.”

Amazon offers full-time employees innovative programs like Career Choice, where the company will pre-pay up to 95 percent of tuition for courses related to in-demand fields, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon. Since the program’s launch, over 16,000 employees have pursued degrees in game design and visual communications, nursing, IT programming and radiology, to name a few.

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com.